Plant help needed....

[nekosensei]

Does anybody know anything about plants? My basil plant is dying. I've given it water and fertilizer. It's also gotten plant food. I've also tried taking it out of the window at night so it doesn't get too cold. I'm thinking that it's not getting enough light because of the shorter days. Do you think the only thing that's going to save it at this point is a grow lamp? Or is there anything else I can do for it?

Comments

[nick-101.livejournal.com]

Put it in a place where there's more sunlight. That could possibly work.

[nekosensei.livejournal.com]

I think where I have it now is the best in terms of sunlight. That and it's also out of reach of the cats. arwenmonster isn't interested and cosettemonster can't jump up there.

doomsey won't be happy with me spending the money, but I've been pricing grow lamps. I could probably get a workable one for about $30. Some of them are $100. If I do go that route, I'm not going to spend that much! We still have to buy Christmas presents.

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

Neko, although Wikipedia in English says only that basil is cultivated as a perennial in tropical climates, it is actually an annual plant everywhere else.
Even here in Italy it dies every winter and either regrows from the seeds of the old plant or is replanted every spring.
We usually cut it before it starts whitering and keep the leaves in small bags in the freezer, even frozen it keeps a good deal of its aroma and flavour.

[forestdruid.livejournal.com]

I've tried for some five years or so to keep basil alive over the winter.... in short, it's not happenin'. Even if you keep it alive for a few months, it will be mostly devoid of leaves all the time (and thus of little use sadly). *sniff*

This year, I'm trying chives in the winter kitchen.

[nekosensei.livejournal.com]

What about rosemary? That one doesn't look so hot either. Also, I think our thyme just bit the dust. Fortunately, the parsley, catnip, and sage seem to be doing fine.

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

Rosemary, sage (and lavender for that matter) are perennials.
The are even spontaneous on our climates in the Mediterranean, need lots of sunshine and not too much water (all three thrive in places like Greece and Sicily, rocky soil and not too much rain) if the rosemary's branches look straggly, trim it, it should grow fuller new ones.

herbs

[forestdruid.livejournal.com]

Well, rosemary can be brought through the winter and replanted... some people even swear that they can leave it outdoors all winter, but I've tried twice with poor results. My mom has kept them alive inside twice. I failed with the indoor method once.

Thyme is very easy to keep alive during the winter. Plant it in the ground outside and leave it alone. The stuff is almost impossible to kill and can even be used as a grass substitute if you don't mind somewhat prickly and strongly scented grass =)

Parsley is special. It's a biennial which will have leaves the first year and then go nuts the next year with a tall flower spike but very little in the way of leaves. It will reseed all over the earth if you let it fully flower and seed.
Catnip is even hardier than thyme and will take over your entire yard if left alone.
Sage is also incredibly hardy. Mine stood some four feet tall (in flower) and spread to about five foot - all from a little six inch plant two years ago.